Always
by Smolicious
Summary: SPOILERS For Far From Home below. Where Peter has a night terror on the jet after the part of the movie where Happy saves him in the field, and Happy freaks out in concern and comforts him.


SPOILERS AHEAD for Far From Home. Where Peter has a night terror on the jet after the part of the movie where Happy saves him in the field, and Happy freaks out in concern and comforts him.

Inspiration was that I was thinking this could have been in the movie if they wanted it, and plus we don't hardly ever get Happy-Peter bonding moments. I kind of see Happy as like a worrisome uncle for Spidey and I can't help but want to write this for them. So… yep, here you go.

Time.. well, you know what time it's set. After Happy flies down into the field and picks Peter up after he was hit by the train. This is also set after he stitches him up, which I thought was cute how much of a grumpy father-son thing was going on there- though I shall always see Stark as his dad but Happy will be a close second sometimes haha. So uncle it is for me. Plus uncle works out considering Aunt May and he are… ya know. *wiggles eyebrows amusedly*

Enjoy!

_

_Peter Parker stumbled through the darkness, breathing heavily and trying to keep it together. He messed up. He messed up so badly. How could he do this to the man he trusted with his life? How could he be so gullible, so_ **stupid** _to believe Mysterio's crap._

_But now where was he? His mind was so_ _jumbled and he was trying to avoid death.. he thinks. Was he still seeing something unreal? Was it real now? If so, the question of where he was came tumbling back into his mind and he felt the world beginning to spiral, even though all he could see was black._

_"H- Happy?"_

_No response._

_Peter knew he must be dreaming or Happy would have responded… right?_

_That was when Peter spotted something in the distance before him. A light, dim and flickering, but it was there._

_The young hero started off in the direction of the light slowly, realizing there probably wasn't anywhere else to go and who knows how long it would still be there. So he inhaled deeply and took another step toward the flickering shine._

_Getting closer, another light appeared lower, like attached to a moving arm, and another on the other side, and-_

_"Oh my-" Peter began to say, stopping with wide eyes and getting cut off when the being that wielded the lights just bolted. And it bolted straight at him._

_Peter's breath hitched in his throat when he realized, as the Being came into better view, that it's armor was a flash of red and gold and he yelped, jumping to the side to dodge it. Except, when he assumed he could jump_ _like Spider-Man, instead his limbs acted in slow motion, and the gold and red corpse slammed into him, throwing them both to the ground in a heap._

_Peter panicked, clawing at the ground and struggling to scramble away from the cracked body next to him. The unshaven, corroded, bug filled Tony Stark lay next to him, half in armor and half corpse out of it. His flesh seemed to be like frayed silk, thin and silky smooth, showing the bone that was nearly sticking through._

_"Mr… Mr. Stark!?" He whispered in shock._

_Peter cried out in surprise, feeling a burning sensation and a sharp pain in his leg. His eyes widened when the corpse began to rise, no breath leaving its rotten lips and his face looked so realistic… it resembled Tony Stark down to the freckles and dimples as the being smiled sickeningly. No teeth appeared in his gummed mouth and then two sharp fangs fell out of the gums where the canines were supposed to be. Slowly fangs started poking out of the gums and showing themselves with rotting blood_ _dripping off of them, having broken the gums._

_Peter's hand was up to his mouth keeping him from gagging as the stench rose and met his nose with short of a fowl welcoming. Then the being lurched forward, bringing_ _itself down and holding Peter to the ground, who struggled and screamed, trying to scramble away, but his slow and heavy limbs weighed him down to the dark ground and he could not move very well at all._

_Screaming as loud as he could, Peter soon realized his screams were muffled and barely coming out of his mouth, and he panicked, feeling his breathing catch in his_ _throat. It felt like he couldn't breath, and he struggled to take in any form of air he could, shoving at the corpse atop him, too heavy even for Spider-Man to lift._

_"Help!" He tried to scream, over and over he mouthed the word with no air coming out and no voice to accompany it. He shook his head, trying to lift the body on top of him again, straining as hard as he could, but it_ _was no use and the corroded Iron Man snarled in his face. Beetles and spiders crawled out from his eye and helmet, just like the illusion from Mysterio._

_It was all too psychological and emotionally scarring that Peter couldn't help but begin to tear up and cry out in distress, trying to_ _scramble further, but Iron Man screamed in his face- something he couldn't tell what was said -and held him down with force._

_Then the face came close and the skin flab that was all that was his eye fell forward and hung over the rim of the helmet with rotting blood spilling out and onto Peter's face. It was cold and and icy and-_

Peter gasped awake, letting out one last cry of surprise when he finally realized that it was Happy sitting on top of him and a cup of cold water was inches from his face.

"There you are kiddo.." Happy whispered softly, giving the teen a reassuring smile as he moved the cup out of Peter's sight and onto the table near them.

"H-Happy?" Peter stumbled over his words, blinking in shock at the soreness of his throat when he said the man's name. Had he been actually screaming?

"Yeah, it's me. You good?" Happy asked, getting off of him awkwardly and standing next to him while grabbing something out of Peter's range of sight.

Peter nodded slowly, trying to remember where he was and if that dream was real. He soon realized he hadn't actually responded to Happy's question when it was too late and the man had turned back around in near ultimate concern, hovering over him and subtly looking him over in worry.

"Pete?" He asked softly, looking into the teens eyes and awaiting the answer to come patiently. Peter nodded his head again, little movement, but his glance down to Happy's hands had him carefully moving his injured leg away from the man. Was all of this real? Of course it seemed Happy noticed this, and he immediately rose his hands, gently speaking as though reading the kid's mind.

"It's real, buddy. Um… remember that time in the hotel when you wouldn't stop making noise, and so I brought you a video game for the hotel TV?" Happy asked with a smile, placating hands in the air.

Peter gazed at the man for a moment and then whispered, "What game?"

That took Happy off his roll and he faulted, trying to remember what game… what game… when he had asked what type he liked Peter had responded casually that he liked to be the protagonist in a first person game, so naturally Happy had found a cop game. But what was it called?! It was something that started with a T and it was another word that criminals used… Ah hah!

"Treason! Uh, I think it was Treason… 2? Yeah, Treason 2." Happy confirmed his thoughts and smiling, proud of himself.

Peter stared at Happy for the longest time in a moment of disbelief before tears began filling his eyes and his eyebrows lifted in a mixture of momentary shock and relief. He launched himself off the couch and into Happy's arms, much to Happy's surprise.

"Woah," Happy breathed out, nearly stumbling but hardly affected by the strength of the teen. Fortunately he wasn't using his full Spider strength.

"He was there, in my dream," Peter said in a small muffled voice, head still buried in Happy's shirt.

Peter breathed in Happy's smell and his strength to keep it together faultered, melting into the older man with the security of feeling actually safe for a little while. Just a little bit, just a moment of feeling safe in the hands of someone else _other_ than his own powers. He just wanted a moment… that's all.

"It's alright…" Happy mumbled, slowly wrapping the kid's small frame into his own with reassurance. He was surprised the teenager actually hugged _him_. He used to be pretty.. well.. rude to the kid back when he first got the role of being a superhero. Now looking back on that, he felt a certain regret for his actions and wished he had done more for the teen than ignore his texts and calls. He mentally shook his head, trying to put that in the past. This young man is forgiving him- or already has forgiven him, and all Happy is doing is trying so hard not to relive the past when really he should be striving to make the future better, for both of them.

It was then that Happy came to the full realization of what Peter had said to him.

"Who was there?" Happy asked in a gentle tone, rubbing the kid's back in a gesture of reassurance… or trying to. He's never really done this for someone before, but he would gladly learn through this opportunity for this young man. Or at least he'd try his best to learn.

The youngest avenger was silent for a long while, sniffling into the older man's shirt and Happy swore he felt the area dampen and wet, but even if he did feel uncomfortable or slightly grossed out, he didn't say anything or move to wipe it off. Instead, the older man felt the need to wrap his arms around the boy tighter- rather more to reassure himself than Peter, that this kid was safe in his arms and _no one_ was going to take him away from them. He didn't give a freaking dime that this kid was someone everyone else relied on to save, he also needed someone to rely on, and Tony Stark was gone. So Happy was perfectly.. well, _happy_ to step in for the time being as a comforting… parental assistant. Yeah, let's go with that.

It took a little longer before he felt Peter move back, watched him subtly rub his eyes of tears and wipe what was probably snot away from his face, then look down and beyond Happy, seemingly in his own world.

"Mr…" Peter's voice cracked and his head bowed further, like a child that did something bad and was about to be punished. He was, however, still nearly clinging to Happy like a lifeline, and if he didn't realize it, well, Happy didn't say one word. "...Stark."

His smaller frame shook and Peter had to look away again before letting out a sob, his exterior walls breaking down and collapsing in a heap like it was nothing more than fragile fine china. Happy did not hesitate to jump in and grab the kid from both sides and pull him in for a bear hug, nearly squeezing the life out of him- along with every word he said next.

"It was a dream, buddy. It was a dream. It's not real, it's not. I am real, this jet is real. _You_ are real, and _Tony Stark_ is really gone, but you and I are still alive and hell if we are going to let anyone mess with his legacy. You got that, Pete?" He let the kid loose a little, and Peter wiggled in his grasp, becoming more comfortable without realizing how cute he was being. Happy nearly let out an 'awe' in shock at how adorable it seemed- this kid was so small and so childlike he couldn't help but sometimes see him much younger than he was.

Peter nodded in response, still hiding his face in Happy's shirt and he was so tightly enveloped in the man's arms and chest that his hair was becoming disheveled in the movement and stuck up and fluffed out everywhere. Of course the boy didn't seem to mind since that was probably nearly the least of his worries at the moment.

Happy nodded, leaned down to rest his chin on the kid's head, and burrowed his chin into the somewhat silky brown locks. The man frowned at how much dirt and blood had made its way into his hair, falling out or sticking to Happy's beard. Sadly at this moment he couldn't tell the teen to go shower or anything considering how he was supposed to go off and _still_ save the world from Mysterio and his illusions. And the people still didn't believe in Spider-Man.

Despite the dirt and blood, Happy stayed with his chin on Peter's head. In response, the teen didn't say anything, but Happy swore he felt him snuggle in a little more for what seemed to be safety.

It was a little while before Happy didn't hear the sniffles anymore and he pulled back, bending down to Peter's eye level as though he were about to speak to a little child. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that Peter was too young to handle himself emotionally, but he just looked so naive and small and so much younger than he actually was that Happy has most definitely heard Stark once say that if anything were to happen to that _child_ he would probably go on a killing spree. No… wait, he didn't say probably.

"Listen, Pete. It's you and me, and I can't promise I can keep you safe from injury when something like this happens, but I will _always pick up the phone_."


End file.
